Subjects & Pronouns
The nominative is the "starting" case: the one every German noun and pronoun is listed in by default, and the one that marks who or what a sentence is actually about.
Nominative covers two jobs, not just one
Whether a noun is doing the action or simply renaming the subject after a linking verb like sein, it stays nominative both times; nothing bends either way.
Der Mann ist müde.
Er ist ein Lehrer.
Both sides stay nominative: ask wer oder was? ("who or what?") about the verb to find either one.
Articles in the Nominative
German nouns come in three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) plus a plural form, and each takes a different article. The nominative forms are the ones you'll usually meet first: dictionaries list nouns this way (e.g. der Mann, die Frau, das Kind).
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definite | der | die | das | die |
| Indefinite | ein | eine | ein | - |
German has no indefinite plural article: Bücher just means "books" with nothing in front of it.
Pronouns & Their Verb
Each nominative pronoun pairs with its own form of sein ("to be"); learning them together makes both easier to remember.
See It In a Sentence
The nominative subject is highlighted below, the same color coding used throughout every A1 lesson.
Der Student sitzt im Klassenzimmer und liest ein Buch.
The student sits in the classroom and reads a book.
Das Wetter ist heute sehr schön.
The weather is very nice today.
Otto ist ein guter Freund.
Otto is a good friend. (Both sides of "ist" are nominative: Otto is the subject, "ein guter Freund" is the predicate noun renaming him.)
A Common Mix-Up
Learners often reach for the accusative article (den, einen) out of habit, even when a noun is the subject or a predicate noun. If the noun is doing the action (or renaming whoever is), it stays nominative, no matter where it sits in the sentence: Ist das der Zug? ("Is that the train?") uses der Zug, not den Zug, because it's a predicate noun after sein.